Contained in:
Book Chapter

Mediterranean economies compared through archaeology (10th-12th centuries)

  • Alessandra Molinari

This article offers a comparative reassessment of Mediterranean economies between the 10th and 12th centuries through an archaeological perspective, with particular attention to Italy and the Islamic regions of the central Mediterranean (Egypt, Sicily, and Tunisia). The analysis of chaînes opératoires, exchange networks, and technological innovations in both craft and ag-ricultural sectors makes it possible to assess more accurately the levels of specialisation and economic complexity of the different areas. Archaeological evidence confirms the strong vitality of Islamic economies, especially in terms of their capacity for innovation and the complexity of their internal distribution networks, while showing a later role for central-northern Italy in processes of growth. Engaging with recent historiographical debates, the article argues that medieval economic development was largely driven by regional dynamics and domestic mar-kets, but suggests rethinking the significance of interregional exchanges primarily as vehicles for the circulation of knowledge, techniques, and cultural models.

  • Keywords:
  • Middle Ages,
  • 11th-12th centuries,
  • Economic archaeology,
  • Medieval Mediterranean,
  • Technological innovation,
  • Exchange networks.,
+ Show More

Alessandra Molinari

Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-2233-5349

  1. Abulafia, David S.H. The two Italies. Economic relations between the Norman kingdom of Sicily and the Northern Communes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
  2. Arcifa, Lucia, Annliese Nef, and Vivien Prigent. “Sicily in a Mediterranean context: imperiality, Mediterranean polycentrism and internal diversity (6th-10th century).” Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Moyen Âge 133, no. 2 (2021): 339-74.
  3. Avni, Gideon. “Early Islamic irrigated farmsteads and the spread of qanats in Eurasia.” Water History 10, no. 4 (2018): 1-26.
  4. Avni, Gideon, Naomi Porat, and Yoav Avni. “Byzantine-Early Islamic agricultural systems in the Negev Highlands: Stages of development as interpreted through OSL dating.” Journal of Field Archaeology 38, no. 4 (2013): 332-46.
  5. Barnes, Ruth. Indian Block-printed Textiles in Egypt: the Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, 2 vols. Oxford-New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  6. Berti, Graziella, Sauro Gelichi, e Tiziano Mannoni. “Trasformazioni tecnologiche nelle prime produzioni italiane con rivestimenti vetrificati (secc. XII-XIII).” In La Céramique médiévale en Méditerranée. Actes du VIe congrès, éd. par Gabrielle Démians D’Archimbaud, 383-403. Aix-en-Provence: Narration édition, 1997.
  7. Bianchi, Giovanna. Archeologia dei beni pubblici: alle origini della crescita economica in una regione mediterranea (secc. IX-XI). Firenze All’Insegna del Giglio, 2022.
  8. Bloom, Jonathan. Paper before print: the history and impact of paper in the Islamic world. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
  9. Bonanno, Carmela, a cura di. Piazza Armerina. L’area nord dell’insediamento medievale presso la Villa del Casale. Indagini archeologiche, 2013-2014. Priolo: Tyche, 2018.
  10. Bouchaud, Charlène, Alan Clapham, Claire Newton, Gaëlle Tallet, and Ursula Thanheiser. “Cottoning on to Cotton (Gossypium spp.) in Arabia and Africa During Antiquity.” In Plants and People in the African Past: Progress in African Archaeobotany, ed. by Anna Maria Mercuri, Catherine D’Andrea, Rita Fornaciari, and Alexa Höhn, 380-426. Berlin: Springer, 2018.
  11. Bresc, Henri. Un monde méditerranéen. Économie et société en Sicile 1300-1450, 2 voll. Rome: École Française de Rome, 1986.
  12. Brogiolo, Gian Pietro, e Giorgia Gentilini, a cura di. Tecniche murarie e cantieri del romanico nell’Italia settentrionale. Atti del Convegno (Trento, 25-26 ottobre 2012). Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2014.
  13. Cagnana, Aurora. “Oriente e Occidente: contatti e trasmissioni di tecnologie fra X e XII secolo.” Archeologia dell’architettura, 15 (2010): 197-204.
  14. Cantini, Federico. “Ritmi e forme della grande espansione economica dei secoli XI-XIII nei contesti ceramici della Toscana settentrionale.” Archeologia medievale 37 (2010): 113-28.
  15. Cantini, Federico, e Claudia Rizzitelli, a cura di. Una città operosa: archeologia della produzione a Pisa tra Età romana e Medioevo. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2018.
  16. Cantini, Federico, e Francesca Grassi. “Produzione, circolazione e consumo della ceramica in Toscana tra la fine del X e il XIII secolo.” In Atti del IX Congresso Internazionale sulla ceramica medievale nel Mediterraneo, a cura di Sauro Gelichi, 131-9. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2012.
  17. Carrera, Francesco Marco Paolo. Gli scavi degli “Ex Laboratori Gentili” a Pisa e i manufatti in lega di rame (secoli XII-XIV): organizzazione delle aree di lavorazione, tecniche produttive e commerci. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2023.
  18. Chiarelli, Leonard C. A history of Muslim Sicily. Santa Venera: Midsea Books, 2018.
  19. Carocci, Sandro. “Nobiltà e pietrificazione della ricchezza fra città e campagna (Italia, 1000-1280).” In Construir para perdurar: riqueza petrificada e idenitidad social: siglos XI-XIV. XLVII Semana Internacional de Estudios Medievales, Estella-Lizarra 20/23 de julio de 2021, 81-142. Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra, 2022.
  20. Carocci, Sandro. Signorie di Mezzogiorno. Società rurali, poteri aristocratici e monarchia (XII-XIII secolo). Roma: Viella, 2014.
  21. Carver, Martin O.H., Alessandra Molinari, e Paola Orecchioni. Castronovo di Sicilia. Ricerche di storia e archeologia 2014-2021. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2024.
  22. Castrorao Barba, Angelo, and Giuseppe Mandalà, ed. by. Suburbia and Rural Landscapes in Medieval Sicily. Oxford: Archaeopress Archaeology, 2023.
  23. Cohen, Zina. Composition Analysis of Writing Materials in Cairo Genizah Documents. Leiden: Brill, 2022.
  24. Colangeli, Francesca, e Viva Sacco, a cura di. “Le forme del vetro: tecnologie a confronto. Produzioni vitree e invetriate in Sicilia, Italia peninsulare, Ifrīqiya e al-Andalus tra IX e XI secolo”. Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Moyen Âge 135 (2023), 237-398.
  25. Davies, Wendy. “Watson’s Green Revolution.” In Kontroversen in der jüngeren Mediävistik, hrsg. von Hans-Werner Goetz, 233-56. Köln: Böhlau, 2023.
  26. Desrosiers, Sophie. “Techniques des textiles médiévaux égyptiens d’époque islamique.” In Égypte, la trame de l’Histoire. Textiles pharaoniques, coptes et islamiques, ed par. Maximilien Durand, et Florence Saragoza, 163-6. Paris: Somogy, 2002.
  27. Epstein, Stephan R. An island for itself. Economic development and social change in late medieval Sicily. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  28. Fenwick, Corisande. Early Islamic North Africa: A New Perspective. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
  29. Ferri, Margherita. “Shine bright. Vetro e (un po’ di) ceramica invetriata a Venezia e nelle aree limitrofe tra VI e XI secolo.” Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Moyen Âge 135 (2023): 361-78.
  30. Fiore, Alessio, e Alma Poloni. L’economia medievale: un profilo storico (secoli V-XV). Roma: Carocci, 2024.
  31. Foy, Danièle. “Entre orient et occident, le verre islamique (VIIIe-XIIIe siècle): apports récents et réflexions sur les échanges et les influences.” In Annales du 20e Congrès de l’Association internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Fribourg/Romont 2015), 10-34. Romont: Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH, 2017.
  32. Franceschi, Franco, Paolo Nanni, e Gabriella Piccinni, a cura di. Medioevo che crea. Innovare, inventare, sperimentare nell’Italia dei secoli X-XIV. Roma-Bari: Editori Laterza, 2025.
  33. François, Véronique. Céramiques médiévales à Alexandrie: contribution à l’histoire économique de la ville. Le Caire: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1999.
  34. Francovich, Riccardo, Richard Hodges. Villa to village: the transformation of the Roman countryside in Italy, c. 400- 1000. London: Duckworth, 2003.
  35. Galetti, Paola e Andrea Augenti, a cura di. L’incastellamento: storia e archeologia. A 40 anni da Les structures di Pierre Toubert. Spoleto: CISAM, 2018.
  36. Gascoigne, Alison. “Egypt.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Archaeology, ed. by Bethany J. Walker, Timoty Insoll, and Corisande Fenwick, 101-21. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
  37. Gayraud, Roland-Pierre. “Arabisation, islamisation et orientalisation de l’Égypte à la lumière de l’archéologie.” In Les dynamiques de l’islamisation en Méditerranée centrale et en Sicile: nouvelles propositions et découvertes récentes, éd. par Annliese Nef, et Fabiola Ardizzone, 153-64. Roma-Bari: École Française de Rome - Edipuglia, 2014.
  38. Gayraud, Roland-Pierre. “Fostat: évolution d’une capitale arabe du VIIe au XIIe siècle d’après les fouille d’Istabl ‘Antar”, in Colloque International d’Archéologie Islamique (Le Caire, 3-7 fevrier 1993), 435-60. Le Caire: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1998.
  39. Gayraud, Roland-Pierre. “La nécropole fatimide du Caire.” In Égypte, la trame de l’Histoire. Textiles pharaoniques, coptes et islamiques, éd. par Maximilien Durand, et Florence Saragoza, 171-2. Paris: Somogy, 2002.
  40. Gayraud, Roland-Pierre, et Lucie Vallauri, éd. par. Fustat II, Fouilles d’Istabl Antar. Ceramiques d’ensembles des IXe et Xe siècles. Le Caire: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 2017.
  41. Gelichi, Sauro, e Alessandra Molinari, a cura di. “I contenitori da trasporto altomedievali e medievali (VIII-XII secolo) nel Mediterraneo. Centri produttori, contenuti, reti di scambio.” Archeologia Medievale 45 (2018), 1-464.
  42. Giannichedda, Enrico. Uomini e cose. Appunti di archeologia. Bari: Edipuglia, 2006.
  43. Goldberg, Jessica. “About «The Donkey and the Boat» by Chris Wickham”. Quaderni storici 58, no. 3 (2023): 845-54.
  44. Goldberg, Jessica, Lorenzo Tabarrini, Chris Wickham, and Alexis Wilkin. “About «The Donkey and the Boat» by Chris Wickham.” Quaderni storici 58, no. 3 (2023): 845-78.
  45. Graeber, David, and David Wengrow. The dawn of everything a new history of humanity. London: Allen Lane, 2021.
  46. Kelley, Anna. “By Land or by Sea: Tracing the Adoption of Cotton in the Economies of the Mediterranean.” In Transmitting and circulating the late antique and Byzantine worlds, ed. by Mirela Ivanova, and Hugh Jeffery, 274-97. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
  47. Kirchner, Helena, Guillermo Garcia-Contreras Ruiz, Corisande Fenwick, and Aleks Pluskowski. “Re-thinking the ‘Green Revolution’ in the Mediterranean world.” Antiquity 97 (2023): 964-74.
  48. Lesnes, Elisabeth, et Jean-Michel Poisson, éd. par. Calathamet: archéologie et historie d’un chateau normand en Sicilie. Rome: École Française de Rome, 2013.
  49. Lombard, Maurice. L’Islam dans sa première grandeur. Paris: Flammarion, 1971.
  50. Mammato, Alfonso. “Monete e circolazione monetaria a Castronovo di Sicilia: un paradigma per la Sicilia medievale in una prospettiva di longue durée.” In Castronovo di Sicilia. Ricerche di storia e archeologia 2014-2021, a cura di Martin O.H. Carver, Alessandra Molinari, e Paola Orecchioni, 495-520. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2024.
  51. Martín Civantos, José Ma, y Jorge Rouco Collazo. “De la piedra a la tierra. Otras concepciones y otras formas de construir en al-Andalus.” Archeologia dell’architettura 26 (2021): 219-33.
  52. Messina, Michelangelo. “La collina di Paternò: produzioni locali e ceramiche importate dal X al XVI secolo.” In Dopo l’antico. Ricerche di archeologia medievale, a cura di Lucia Arcifa, e Laura Maniscalco, 81-104. Palermo: Regione Sicilia, 2016.
  53. Mokyr, Joel. The Lever of Riches. Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
  54. Molinari, Alessandra. “Paesaggi rurali e formazioni sociali nella Sicilia islamica, normanna e sveva (secoli X-XIII).” Archeologia medievale 37 (2010): 229-46.
  55. Molinari, Alessandra. “Riflessioni sulle economie dei secoli X e XI: Palermo e Roma a confronto.” In Italy and Early Medieval Europe: Essays Presented to Chris Wickham, ed. by Ross Balzaretti, Julia S. Barrow, and Patricia Skinner, 155-70. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
  56. Molinari, Alessandra. Segesta II. Il castello e la moschea (scavi 1989-95). Palermo: Flaccovio, 1997.
  57. Molinari, Alessandra, a cura di. “Mondi rurali d’Italia: insediamenti, struttura sociale, economia. Secoli X-XIII.” Archeologia medievale 37 (2010).
  58. Molinari, Alessandra, Valeria Beolchini, Ilaria De Luca, Chiara De Santis, Emanuela Fresi, Laura Orlandi, Giorgio Rascaglia, Marco Ricci, e Jacopo Russo. “Stili di vita, produzioni e scambi: la città di Roma a confronto con altri siti del Lazio (secoli IX-XV).” In Actas do X Congresso Internacional A cerâmica medieval no Mediterrâneo, ed. por Maria José Gonçalves, y Susana Gómez Martínez, 121-42. Silves: Câmara Municipal, 2016.
  59. Molinari, Alessandra, e Fabio Giovannini, a cura di. Il paesaggio pietrificato. La storia sociale dell’Europa tra X e XII secolo attraverso l’archeologia del costruito. Archeologia dell’architettura 26 (2021).
  60. Molinari, Alessandra, e Antonino Meo. Mazara/Mazar: nel ventre della città medievale (secoli VII–XV). Edizione critica degli scavi (1997) in via Tenente Gaspare Romano. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2021.
  61. Monchamp, Julie. Céramiques des Murailles du Caire (fin Xe - début XVIe s.). Le Caire: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 2018.
  62. Monnereau, Aurore, Alice Ughi, Paola Orecchioni, Richard Hagan, Helen M. Talbot, Efthymia Nikita, Derek Hamilton, Petrus Le Roux, Alessandra Molinari, Martin Carver, Oliver E. Craig, Camilla F. Speller, Michelle M. Alexander, and Nathan Wales. “Multi-Proxy Bioarchaeological Analysis of Skeletal Remains Shows Genetic Discontinuity in a Medieval Sicilian Community.” Royal Society Open Science 11 (2024): 240436 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240436
  63. Nef, Annliese, et Fabiola Ardizzone, éd. par. Les dynamiques de l’islamisation en Méditerranée centrale et en Sicile: nouvelles propositions et découvertes récentes. Roma-Bari: École Française de Rome - Edipuglia, 2014.
  64. Palma, Andrea. “I rinvenimenti numismatici dallo scavo dell’abitato medievale.” In Piazza Armerina. Villa del Casale tra tardoantico e medioevo, a cura di Patrizio Pensabene, 67-76. Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2010.
  65. Peacock, David P. S., and Lucie K. Blue, ed. by. Myos Hormos – Quseir al-Qadim: Roman and Islamic Ports on the Red Sea. Vol. 2, Finds from the Excavation 1999-2003. Oxford: BAR International Series, 2011.
  66. Pensabene, Patrizio, e Paolo Barresi, a cura di. Piazza Armerina, Villa del Casale: scavi e studi nel decennio 2004-2014. Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2019.
  67. Petralia, Giuseppe. “La nuova Sicilia tardomedievale: un commento al libro di Epstein.” Revista d’historia medieval 5 (1994): 137-62.
  68. Petralia, Giuseppe. “Sui Toscani in Sicilia tra Due e Trecento: la penetrazione sociale e il radicamento nei ceti urbani.” In Commercio, finanza, funzione pubblica. Stranieri in Sicilia e Sardegna nei secoli XIII-XV, a cura di Marco Tangheroni, 129-218. Napoli: Liguori, 1989.
  69. Priestman, Seth M.N. Ceramic Exchange and the Indian Ocean Economy (AD 400-1275). 2 voll. London: British Museum, 2021.
  70. Qin, Dashu, e Justin Ching Ho. “Chinese Ceramic Exports to Africa during the 9th-10th Centuries: Product Characteristics, Scale and Temporal Variations.” In Riches beyond the Horizon. Long-Distance Trade in Early Medieval Landscapes (ca. 6th-12th Centuries), ed. by Hagit Nol, 95-108. Turnhout: Brepols, 2021.
  71. Rascaglia, Giorgio, e Jacopo Russo. “La ceramica medievale di Roma: organizzazione produttiva e mercati (VIII-XV secolo).” In L’archeologia della produzione a Roma (secoli V-XV), a cura di Alessandra Molinari, Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani, e Lucrezia Spera, 279-308. Roma-Bari: École Française de Rome - Edipuglia, 2015.
  72. Rovelli, Alessia. “Nuove zecche e circolazione monetaria tra X e XIII secolo: l’esempio del Lazio e della Toscana.” Archeologia medievale 37 (2010): 163-70.
  73. Rustow, Marina. The Lost Archive: Traces of a Caliphate in a Cairo Synagogue. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020.
  74. Ryan, Saskia E., Eric Douville, Arnaud Dapoigny, Pierre Deschamps, Vincent Battesti, Abel Guihou, Matthieu Lebon, Jérôme Rohmer, Vladimir Dabrowski, Patricia Dal Prà, Laïla Nehmé, Antoine Zazzo, and Charlène Bouchaud. “Strontium Isotope Evidence for Pre-Islamic Cotton Cultivation in Arabia.” Frontiers in Earth Science (2023). DOI: 10.3389/feart.2023.1257482
  75. Sacco, Viva. Dalla ceramica alla storia economica: il caso di Palermo islamica. Roma: École Française de Rome, 2024.
  76. Saggioro, Fabio, e Gian Maria Varanini, a cura di. “Una discussione su L’asino e il battello di Chris Wickham.” Reti Medievali Rivista 25, no. 2 (2024).
  77. Salinas, Elena, Judit Molera, e Trinidad Pradell. “Técnicas decorativas de la cerámica vidriada en el mundo islámico.” In Atti del XIII Convegno AIECMM, Granada, 2024.
  78. Salvarani, Renata, Giancarlo Andenna, e Gian Pietro Brogiolo, a cura di. Alle origini del romanico: monasteri, edifici religiosi, committenza tra storia e archeologia (Italia settentrionale, secoli IX-X). Atti delle III Giornate di studi medievali, Castiglione delle Stiviere, 25-27 settembre 2003. Brescia: Marietti, 2005.
  79. Schibille, Nadine. Islamic Glass in the Making: Chronological and Geographical Dimensions. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2022.
  80. Stern, Edna J., Sylvie Yona Waksman, and Anastasia Shapiro. “The Impact of the Crusades on Ceramic Production and Use in the Southern Levant: Continuity or Change?”. In Multidisciplinary Approaches to Food and Foodways in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean, ed. by Sylvie Yona Waksman. Lyon: MOM Éditions, 2020 (new ed. online 2021).
  81. Toubert, Pierre. Les structures du Latium médiéval. Le Latium méridional et la Sabine du IXe à la fin du XIIe siècle. Rome: École Française de Rome, 1973.
  82. Turner, Sam, Tim Kinnaird, Günder Varinlioğlu, Tevfik Emre Şerifoğlu, Elif Koparal, Volkan Demirciler, Dimitris Athanasoulis, Knut Ødegård, Jim Crow, Mark Jackson, Jordi Bolòs, José Carlos Sánchez-Pardo, Francesco Carrer, David Sanderson, and Alex Turner. “Agricultural Terraces in the Mediterranean: Medieval Intensification Revealed by OSL Profiling and Dating.” Antiquity 95 (2021): 773-90.
  83. Van der Veen, Marijke. Consumption, Trade and Innovation: Exploring the Botanical Remains from the Roman and Islamic Ports at Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt. Journal of African Archaeological Monograph 6. Frankfurt am Main: Africa Magna Verlag, 2011.
  84. Vassallo, Stefano. “The Topographical Context of Palermo in the Islamic Age: New Archaeological Research.” In Suburbia and Rural Landscapes, ed. by Angelo Castrorao Barba, and Giuseppe Mandalà, 3-11. Oxford: Archaeopress Archaeology, 2023.
  85. Vogelsang-Eastwood, Gillian M. Resist-Dyed Textiles from Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt. Paris: A.E.D.T.A., 1990.
  86. Watson, Andrew. Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World: The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700-1100. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
  87. Wickham, Chris. The Donkey and the Boat: Reinterpreting the Mediterranean Economy, 950-1180. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
  88. Wickham, Chris. Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  89. Zhang, Rui. An Exploratory Quantitative Archaeological Analysis and a Classification System of Chinese Ceramics Trade in the Western Indian Ocean, AD c. 800-1500. PhD Thesis, Durham University, 2016. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11747/.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2026
  • Pages: 355-383
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2026 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2026
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2026 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Mediterranean economies compared through archaeology (10th-12th centuries)

Authors

Alessandra Molinari

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8.20

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2026

Copyright Information

© 2026 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

In Search of the High Middle Ages. Change and Continuity in 11th–12th-century Italy

Editors

Alberto Cotza, Giuseppe Petralia

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

560

Publication Year

2026

Copyright Information

© 2026 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8

ISBN Print

979-12-215-1075-1

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-1076-8

eISBN (xml)

979-12-215-1078-2

Series Title

Reti Medievali E-Book

Series ISSN

2704-6362

Series E-ISSN

2704-6079

0

Fulltext
downloads

0

Views

Export Citation

1,503

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

3,436

Book Chapters

6,234,628

Fulltext
downloads

5,673

Authors

from 1201 Research Institutions

of 67 Nations

77

scientific boards

from 416 Research Institutions

of 46 Nations

1,411

Referees

from 411 Research Institutions

of 41 Nations